Joel’s journey takes a traumatising turn in the latest episode of The Last of Us (Picture: HBO) Warning: major spoilers ahead for The Last of Us season 2 episode 2. The Last of Us season 2 episode 2 has finally been released, and we might never recover from the heartbreak. In the latest episode of the post-apocalyptic series, the past catches up with Joel (Pedro Pascal) when he crosses paths with Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), who vowed five years earlier to find and kill him in revenge for the murder spree he committed against the Fireflies to save Ellie (Bella Ramsey). Having been shot in the leg and beaten by Abby with a golf club, Joel is lying on the ground, barely able to move when Ellie finds him – and she can only watch helplessly as her surrogate father dies in front of her. For people familiar with The Last of Us video games, this massive twist won’t come as a surprise – but it doesn’t make it any less painful, especially given how brutal it was to watch in live-action. There are also plenty of people out there who had no idea that Joel’s days were numbered, and the devastation pouring out from fans around the world is truly heartbreaking…with many also describing this episode as one of the ‘best they’ve ever seen on TV’. Pedro called Abby star Kaitlyn Dever a ‘miracle’ in an Instagram post shared after the episod was released (HBO) Ellie (Bella Ramsey) could only watch helplessly as Joel was killed (Picture: HBO) ‘This is actually 10x worse than I thought it would be,’ @89sharry_ wrote on X, having known in advance that Joel was going to die. ‘Dear people who’ve never played The Last of Us: Do you know how long we have held this secret?!? You’re welcome,’ @UpToTASK stated. ‘Everyone experiencing THAT moment on #TheLastOfUs for the first time…welcome to the trauma,’ @fn_nerds added. Of the fans who had no idea that Joel was going to be killed off so early into season two, @McKennaBieger remarked: ‘Just watched the new episode of #TheLastOfUs as someone who has never played the game and received no spoilers. Gonna need a few business days to recover from that one 😭😭.’ How is The Last of Us season 2 changing the story from the video game? At the premiere for The Last of Us season two in London, Metro spoke to the show’s co-creator Craig Mazin, who serves as an executive producer, showrunner and director on the drama. While the series is an extremely faithful adaptation of the globally-popular video games on which they’re based, certain changes do inevitably have to be made when adapting it to the medium of TV. When asked about changes from the video game to the TV series for the second season, Craig told us: ‘Well I can’t walk you through the changes we made, because that would give a lot of things away. ‘But what I can say is that we followed the same process that we did in season one, which is to think about what the game does beautifully that we know, as a fan, I need it to be the same, and then there are things that the game does that are so connected to the gameplay that we don’t really have the ability to do in television, so we’ve made changes.’ Craig continued: ‘So we move things around, we play around, but we do it from the perspective of Neil Druckmann who created the source material and from me as a fan. Hopefully that works for people.’ The writer teased that there are some new moments in the second season that he believes are ‘really going to rock people’, as well as ‘slight changes’ from the game that ‘enrich them further’. ‘It’ll put you back on your heels,’ he promised. Several people admitted that they’ll ‘never recover’ from watching Joel be killed by Abby, as @stephispunk shared: ‘I’ll never emotionally recover from this.’ While the heartbreak spread across The Last of Us fandom, the episode also received high praise, with some viewers saying it was one of the best they’ve ever seen on TV. ‘That was genuinely one of the best episodes of television ever. The writing, the dialogue, the action, the tension building up, the sense of danger hanging over the entirety of the episode, the action, and ofcourse the incredible acting performances,’ @dinmurdock shared. Showering Abby star Kaitlyn with adulation, @_ShauryaChawla wrote: ‘I genuinely think Kaitlyn Dever is one of the most incredible actresses we have right now, and tonight was more proof of that. Really nailed that scene in the show perfectly, and then some. Powerful work from her.’ Following the release of the episode, Gabriel Luna, who plays Joel’s brother Tommy, shared a picture of Pedro in the sea, with the caption: ‘Love you, Brother.’ Kaitlyn also shared a post, uploading a selfie of her and Pedro embracing in the snow, and writing: ‘My best snow buddy buddy buddy ❤️😘💫❤️❤️.’ Both Pedro and Kaitlyn shared posts on Instagram praising one another (Picture: Travis P. Ball/SXSW Conference & Festivals via Getty Images) To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Up Next Previous Page Next Page Fans adore Bella and Pedro’s bond both on and off-screen (Picture: Christopher Polk/Variety via Getty Images) A number of her followers urged others to treat the Booksmart actress with kindness, and to not be mean towards her because of the fictional act her character committed. ‘It was amazing. Please don’t bully Kaitlyn. She was awesome,’ Brian commented on Instagram. ‘No one can stop me from hating Abby, but that’s just the character. Loved your performance Kaitlyn,’ said Tushar. ‘I’m sorry that ppl are already harassing you. She’s just a character after all, and you and Pedro love each other in the end!’ Gabe added. Pedro shared the same picture with Kaitlyn, writing in his caption: ‘Blizzard Buddies. Thank you, scene partner. You little miracle.’ The Last of Us is available to watch on Sky Atlantic and NOW, with new episodes released on Mondays. Got a story? If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.